What WRs does everyone think we will target in rounds 2-3, considering I think it's likely we go with a CB or DE in round 1.
If Stedman Bailey comes out (which is a strong possibility as Geno Smith is a senior) he could be a 2nd rounder because, in the end, there is a perceived set of percentages that comes with a guy that is 5'10" and 190-195 lbs at that position. Yet, you watch him play, and you can't help but think he'd be a fantastic football player. So if you're talking 2nd-3rd round...that would be the guy that comes to mind first and foremost.
Honestly, I think the Dolphins will be picking higher than most people here think. I believe we will be picking between 3-8. That being said, I believe we will target our biggest need in my opinion, the pass rush. It seems like QBs have all day back there which is making our secondary look worse than it actually is. I believe we will try to get a DE or OLB which luckily fits with the strength of this years draft. I would love to grab a Jarvis Jones or Bjoern Werner. If we opt to go with another position I think it will be WR or CB. I would love it if we somehow drafted a WR or CB in the first and then Brandon Jenkins later on. As far as Reid, I am not as high on him as other people. I think he plays better in the box than in coverage, doesn't tackle all that well, and takes some questionable angles here and there. He is the type of player that would rather run to the guy with the ball and hold him up to gang tackle rather than just bring down the carrier himself. That being said, he is pretty instinctual and has some speed. I personally think he is more a product of the system.
Very little exposure to Reid so far, to be honest. I like Matt Elam at that position...another Florida guy. I liked Major Wright from Florida a lot once upon a time.
After watching Andrew Hawkins' recent success & big play ability in Cincy, I wouldn't mind drafting Tavon Austin in the middle rounds.
Sure, why not. IMO Tavon Austin is a better return man than Thigpen and a more versatile & dangerous offensive weapon, therefore Austin would see more offensive snaps and designed plays to get him the ball as sort of an X factor, so I'd give him Thigpen's #4 RB slot..... so we'd essentially be adding only 1 smallish receiver (Bailey). Thoughts?
How so if you don't mind me asking? Are you referring to any risk involved with using our 4th RB spot on Austin? If so, I don't see that as being any riskier than using it on Thigpen who's pretty small himself (granted is bigger than Austin but not enough to where he'd be a reliable back should we lose 2 to injury IMO).
Considering how stout we are verse the run, what do you guys think about going after both Kenny Vaccaro & TJ McDonald..... and using Vaccaro at FS.... and making McDonald a S/LB hybrid so that we're essentially rolling with a 4-2-5. Perhaps eventually replace Burnett with a LB who is more versatile and offers better blizting/pass rushing potential to where we could move him to the line and run a 5-2 with Dansby & McDonald in coverage? We'd need to add a solid cover corner to really make it work, but I kinda like the idea. How about a draft of Werner, McDonald, and Vaccaro? Werner_Odrick_Soliai_Wake _ Burnett_____Dansby____McDonald (S/LB hybrid) Jones_____Vaccaro ......or perhaps trade back and take McDonald, Vaccaro, Chase Thomas [as the future LB hybrid], and use the extra 2nd rounder on a CB..... or even go with Star Lotuleili [to pair with Soliai], McDonald, Vaccaro, and trade a future pick for Thomas? That could look like: Odrick_Lotuleili_Soliai_Wake _ Thomas (hybrid LB)___Mcdonald (hybrid S/LB)__ Dansby Jones_____Vaccaro (with Lotuleili & Soliai in the middle you could let McDonald roam w/o worrying about him being a liability vs the run, no?) then if you wanted to bring more pressure the 5-2 would be: Wake Odrick_Lotuleili_Soliai_Thomas _ Mcdonald____Dansby Jones_____Vaccaro
A) Risk in taking both receivers from the same offense. Chances are only one (if any) is really NFL caliber. It's up to you to choose which one is actually NFL caliber. If you're so sold on Tavon Austin you may have to come to the realization that he's the one worth buying, not Stedman Bailey. B) Risk in having both of your receivers, even if they DO both end up good, being midgets. That will lead to offensive limitations. It's not a good idea.
I've got an easier solution to my previous post. 1. Draft Werner or trade up if needed. 2. Draft TJ McDonald. 3. Steal Revis away from NY.... or at least grab Talib or Grimes. Against passing teams, we roll with 2 LBs (Dansby & Burnett), McDonald at S/LB hybrid, Marshall at FS, and Jones at SS. Misi enters during obvious run situations with McDonald moving back to FS. In pass situations McDonald moves to FS and Marshall to nickel corner. Against running teams, we'd play a straight up 4-3 with McDonald at FS and Marshall coming in at nickel corner. Then we could perhaps draft Chase Thomas to be the future SOLB hybrid. Defense is now straight up pimpin.
I've liked his body language, stature, the way he moves and throws the football. All seem very pro-like. But you're right there's a sense of waiting for him to put it all together. But in that Clemson game, he sure looked like he was banging on the door of doing that.
The chances of being able to steal Darrelle Revis away from the Jets are slim and none. Really onto T.J. McDonald, eh?
Can't say I was overly impressed with Werner against Clemson and this was the first test. His first step is terrific but to me he can't bend at the top of the arc as well as you'd like. He's a really hard worker, but against better players, I thought Tank Carradine was the better player.
I'm not as concerned with taking a receiver from the same offense. Personally, I'd prefer to judge the player on his own merit b/c there's a handful of offenses I'd take more than 1 receiver from. I would've done it last year with Arkansas. I'd do it with Clemson and Watkins, Hopkins, Martavis Bryant, and Charone Peake. Ditto for USC. Baylor with Kendall Wright, Gordan, and Williams. Tennessee with Hunter, Patterson, and Rogers. If I had to choose between Austin & Bailey, I'd take the one who presents the best option as a full time starter, which would be Bailey who's not far off from Kendall Wright IMO. I wouldn't draft Austin to occupy the 5th receiver spot; I'd draft him to replace Thigpen as the 4th running back considering Thigpen will likely not see much action outside of the return game, where as Austin he has enough ability as a receiver, especially out of the slot, to create some specific plays designed to mismatch him against a linebacker, which could happen with Reggie Bush on the field IMO.
Geno Smith is putting on a clinic today vs Baylor. Bailey, Austin, and Terrance Williams look outstanding.
If there's a 1% chance of stealing Revis from NY, I'd fight for that 1%. Anything that weakens them while makes us stronger, I'm all for. As a pure FS I'd rather have Vaccaro at this moment, but for a hybrid I'd prefer McDonald. IMO his versatility is quite valuable, especially considering we already have a versatile corner who is at his best at nickel corner and FS. This would give us the best of both worlds IMO b/c Marshall would either be at FS against passing teams (with McDonald as the S/LB hybrid) or nickel corner against run teams (with McDonald at FS).... and in nickel McDonald would be FS with Marshall at nickel corner. IMO this would best utilize Marshall and the FS position by providing the versatility to match up extremely well verse both the run and the pass. Case in point, if you watch what Atlanta is doing this year, they're rolling with 3 safeties vs passing teams but revert to a traditional base 4-3 vs teams that rely on the run. IMO we have the linebackers to do this, and Reshad Jones should be good enough at SS, so all we're missing is a great cover corner opposite Smith and a quality S/LB hybrid (plus another pass rusher). I'd even go so far as considering Te'o as the ILB of the future b/c of how much stress this type of defense would put on the ILB being great in both phases of the game, especially with only 2 on the field much of the time. Te'o could ease in next year, then replace Dansby in 2014 to save us $9.0 million. Maybe you'd have a draft a Te'o, McDonald, and Chase Thomas. That way, by 2014 you'd have Te'o and the versatile Thomas at ILB & OLB hybrid, and McDonald as the safety hybrid. Thomas moves to DE in nickel but still has the ability to pass rush on 1st & 2nd down, made possible by good coverage from Te'o, 3 safeties on the field, and 2 good cover corners. Meanwhile, we remain stout vs the run.
I'm not sure I see McDonald as the hybrid that you do but that would be an interesting way to structure things. Not really new, it's what they were doing with Yeremiah Bell in Miami for years. I don't think you have the right read on the three-safety thing with Atlanta though, at least from a personnel standpoint. Dominique Franks has been a corner going all the way back to college. Asante Samuel is certainly a corner, as is Dunta Robinson, and when Brent Grimes was healthy he's a corner, as is Chris Owens. William Moore and Thomas DeCoud are the safeties. I mean you're right that the Falcons have essentially made their nickel defense their base defense. No denying that. They bring out Akeem Dent situationally (and to your credit, also based on opponent, as you say). He's only getting like 10-15 snaps a game. But it's not really a three-safety look that they're favoring from a personnel standpoint, IMO.
Terrance Williams didn't have a bad game either. I really wish I would have been able to watch that game. It's score was more like basketball than football lol.
I have definitely seen college basketball games with lower scores than that game. For sure. I saw the first half when Stedman had about 90 of those yards and 3 of the 5 touchdowns. The thing about the game is, for all the *** licking being done on Geno Smith, Nick Florence went out there and really stepped up too. I mean he scored 63 damn points. That play with like 7 seconds before the half, after taking a loss on the previous play everyone had to be thinking "just take a knee" (I know I was). But he made something happen out of nothing on the play, scrambled around and threatened to cross the line of scrimmage himself as a ball carrier, drawing the defense to him, then found the right guy breaking at the right time vertically and voila...touchdown. Better than any hail mary I've ever seen. Essentially you had probably the two best college football offensive minds in the game today, with Holgorsen probably the best play caller while Briles is probably the most inventive architect, dueling one another with QBs that get the job done and talented track star receivers...and the matchup went exactly as you'd have thought it would. It was like watching a NASCAR race, not a football game.
What do think the chances of Mingo and Werner going top 5? Any chance Miami could end up with one of them?
I don't really want Mingo (don't really buy into the hype) and while I love Werner I think we need someone that is a bit better at getting pressure on the QB. I really want to see how Werner does the rest of the season. He dominated lesser opponents, but was "shut out" by Clemson. He is an all out effort guy which I like, and think Werner will make a great Pro. That being said, I think for our D to take the next step we really need a Pressure guy. If I had my choice I would go with Jarvis Jones OLB from Georgia. I think he could be a hell of a DE and could wreck havoc with Wake.
There's no denying that Atlanta's rolling with an extra corner per se, but on the field IMO it has more of an extra safety feel the way they execute. If it is more of a 3 corner deal rather than 3 safety, then that's ok, too, b/c I'd still be all for it (although I'd prefer the extra guy to come from Safety so that we could allow Marshall to roam FS while the other is in the hybrid role). If you feel that a guy like Vaccaro would be better served for the role, then I'd certainly entertain the idea. IMO the way I mentioned is a little more specialized & advanced than what we ran with Bell b/c of the versatility afforded to us by Marshall as well as the increased coverage ability of McDonald (or Vaccaro). IMO if we could add a great cover corner and a 3 down SOLB/hybrid, we could stick with the same run-stuffing, defensive front we have now w/o losing anything against the pass. It could rival what Seattle is doing. I'm not the biggest fan of Marshall (albeit it I do like him), but IMO his versatility could be a nice bonus if we allow it to be, and what better way to let that happen than to be able to put him in a position where he's the FS vs passing teams as well as the starting nickel corner? We could do that if we have a FS hybrid whom we don't have to worry about getting completely washed out, no? The only guy I've seen so far that I like for the role is McDonald. Is there anyone else out there that you'd like for it, Chris? Who do you like as a legitimate OLB hybrid who can play the run, rush the passer, and not be a total liability in coverage?
Werner is starting to make me think of a lesser version of Chris Long, and that scares me considering how long it took Long to become an impact player.
Chris Long was making an impact for the Rams long before a few surface stats (such as sacks) began to reflect it. I don't think that's a Draft pick they regret unless it's because of the same situation as the Dolphins where they wish they'd taken Matt Ryan. Chris Long had 4 sacks as a rookie with 9 hits and 19 pressures, but he also drew a lot of holding penalites. Same was true in 2009 as he got 5 sacks, 13 hits and 20 pressures. You're right in that he exploded with 8 sacks, 13 hits and 57 pressures in 2010, with again more holding penalties working in his favor...followed it up with 13 sacks, 12 hits and 58 pressures in 2011. I just don't see how Chris Long is any sort of cautionary tale. He's been a wildly successful draft pick albeit an expensive one since he and Jake were both taken before there was a rookie wage scale. And I don't think Werner is a "lesser" anyone at this point. He looks a lot like J.J. Watt did when he came out of Wisconsin. But of course people are going to tend to look at J.J. Watt right NOW and say things like "Are you kidding me?!? Watt is an animal!!!" but a little perspective is needed here. When Watt came out he was not even necessarily considered the prospect Chris Long was.
